]]>With 91 Americans dying each day from opioid overdose, the Texas A&M University Health Science Center is responding, advancing training and education in pain management and substance abuse in innovative ways. Texas A&M is the first health science center in the nation to commit to train every health professions student to administer a reversal agent to opioid overdose victims, and save lives.

Through the intensive 90-minute Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Administration (OENA) program, the institution will train every Texas A&M Health Science Center student across the state—totaling more than 5,000 students from the colleges of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health—to recognize an opioid overdose and administer naloxone, a drug that can be administered as a nasal spray or injection to reverse the deadly effects of opioid overdoses.

The reversal agent is available as prescription medication, and some states, including Texas, allow naloxone to be distributed by pharmacists to the public without a prescription from a physician via a standing order. Texas also passed legislation allowing for community distribution of naloxone rescue kits by trained individuals to the general public in response to the rising crisis. Anyone is allowed to possess naloxone without a prescription and use it in good faith to save the life of a person believed to be suffering from an opioid overdose.

“Naloxone is a life-saving treatment to help until emergency personnel arrive,” said Joy Alonzo, M. Engineering, PharmD, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Pharmacy, who is leading the naloxone training effort at the Health Science Center. “The goal is to train our students how to administer naloxone and also educate them about the health care needs of the opioid crisis and spread that awareness to others.”

Alonzo is a member of the institution’s Opioid Task Force, which was formed in 2018 to reduce burdens from the opioid epidemic through collaborative action in research, education and community outreach, across the health sciences. Training of all health professions students is an important component of both the education and community outreach initiatives of the task force.

“Whenever you’re faced with a crisis, you need creative solutions,” said Carrie L. Byington, MD, vice chancellor for health services at The Texas A&M University System, senior vice president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and dean of the Texas A&M College of Medicine. “The best ideas come when multiple viewpoints are at the table, and that’s the idea behind our interprofessional Opioid Task Force. Together, we’re reducing the stigma associated with opioids, and empowering the next generation of health care professionals to become advocates for naloxone administration within their own communities, wherever they may practice after graduation.”

Students are already putting what they’ve learned to practice. Pharmacy students, who were trained early on through Operation Naloxone, are now actively training first responders and members of the community in how to recognize an overdose and administer naloxone.

“We have seen five reversals from trainings provided to communities,” Alonzo said. “We’re preventing overdose deaths in our communities, and providing opportunities for people with opioid use disorder to access treatment and recovery—saving lives.”

The task force’s efforts also translate well beyond Texas’ borders. Task Force representatives, including Byington and Alonzo, are engaged at the national level, with the American Medical Association Alliance and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

There’s also an evaluation component planned. “We’re going to survey the students on the effectiveness of the training, and then we’re going to re-survey them every 12 months until they graduate to see what sticks and how their attitudes about opioid use disorder changes,” Alonzo said. “We need to change the perspective of the next generation of health care providers, and this initiative is one component of that.”

The ultimate goal is to destigmatize substance use disorders and teach providers—and society in general—to consider it a chronic health condition, not a lack of willpower or a character flaw. Naloxone doesn’t solve the problem or help people overcome addiction, but it does save their lives so they have the opportunity to seek treatment.

“This sort of training should be very common, just like people are trained in CPR,” Alonzo said. “You may never need it, but if the situation does arise, you need to know how to do it right and feel confident that you can save a life.”

Texas A&M University Health Science Center is transforming health through innovative research, education and service in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and medical sciences. As an independent state agency and academic unit of Texas A&M University, the health science center serves the state through campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen. Learn more at vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu.

]]>An escalating epidemic of active shooter incidents in schools, with events too numerous to list, starting from Columbine CO in 1999, to VA Tech in 2011, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida mass shootings have culminated to create a watershed moment in our times, whereby public opinion is demanding a solution be found to this accelerating, tragic problem.

Beginning the process of addressing the potential threat of an active shooter at your facility can be overwhelming.

The active shooter threat assessment checklists contain ideas on where to begin your vulnerability analysis. Learn the steps you need to take to prepare yourself in the event of an active shooter situation.

There are four versions of the active shooter threat assessment checklist that we’re making available to you:

University- Type Facilities

K-12 Education Facilities

Hospitals/Healthcare Facilities

Churches/ House of Worship Facilities

Many of the solutions listed here can also help with other security and safety issues your campus or district might be encountering.

]]>10 Major U.S. Cities with the Best and Worst Police Response Timeshttps://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/police-response-times/
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/police-response-times/#respondSat, 01 Dec 2018 09:00:57 +0000http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/?p=60274A new report reveals which major cities have the best and worst police response times, as well as police response times based on the type of crime.

Security trends website Safe Smart Living has released a report that reveals which major U.S. metro cities have the best and worst average police response time.

The rankings are based on publicly disclosed reports but the data years differ widely, based on when it was compiled in each city, according to the website. For this reason, some major U.S. cities are not included in the list.

A number of factors can determine police response time. Most police departments have a response list that ranks different types of emergencies from high to low, with top priority going to callers who are in need of assistance due to a life-threatening emergency.

Other factors can include the number of incoming calls at the time of your call, the number of officers available to respond and the number of officers needed to respond to a specific situation.

Furthermore, below is a breakdown of the national average police response time based on the type of crime.

Courtesy: Safe Smart Living

Safe Smart Living also found that the average police response time for active shooter events average three minutes around the country.

Safe Smart Living included the following note with its rankings:

There’s no fair way to truly compare average police response times by city or metro area. Why? There are simply too many city-specific factors that affect response times. Some police departments, for example, cover much larger geographical areas; while others experience more traffic.

How to Decrease Police Response Time

Video verification is a beneficial solution for decreasing police response time. Video verification can result in a lower false alarm rate, and in some areas, move a 911 call up a police’s priority list.

]]>https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/police-response-times/feed/0Oakland University is Arming Students with Hockey Puckshttps://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/oakland-university-hockey-pucks/
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/oakland-university-hockey-pucks/#commentsSat, 01 Dec 2018 09:00:31 +0000http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/?p=60307The school's police chief, who is also a hockey coach, suggested the object when asked what to use if fighting is the only option against an active shooter.

]]>One Detroit-area college is taking a unique approach toward helping students and faculty protect themselves against a potential active shooter: arming them with hockey pucks.

Campus police and school officials at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., came up with the idea following a presentation on emergency preparedness.

While discussing the school’s recommended “run, hide, fight” strategy to handling campus threats, police chief Mark Gordon says one person asked what they should fight with since the campus has a no-weapons policy, reports WCVB.

Gordon, who is also a youth hockey coach, says getting hit in the head with a hockey puck gave him the idea.

“It was just kind of a spur-of-the-moment idea that seemed to have some merit to it and it kind of caught on,” he said. “[Hockey pucks] have enough mass to cause injury, small enough to be thrown, [are] portable and they’re not considered a weapon.”

Tom Discenna, communications professor and president of the school’s American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure chapter, directed the school’s efforts. The group purchased 800 hockey pucks for union members and 1,700 for students, according to CBS News. Additionally, the student government ordered 1,000 pucks.

Holding a hockey puck will remind people they are not powerless, says Discenna, but that using them should be an “absolutely last resort”, adding that the school holds active shooter trainings several times a year and focuses primarily on fleeing and hiding.

“We hope and pray it never gets used for the purposes we may use it for.”

Each puck has been imprinted with a number that can be entered into the school’s fundraising page to raise money for equipping doors with inside locks.

The school’s AAUP chapter also donated $5,000 toward the new locks.

“We wanted to have a door lock that would be easily locked from the inside,” Discenna said. “Most doors now can be locked externally using a key.”

]]>Authorities have confirmed that Tuesday’s active shooter scare at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., was a drill gone awry.

The Navy, which runs the hospital with the rest of the U.S. Military, says that while there was a drill planned for that day, an alert was accidentally triggered that did not specify it was a test, causing workers and patients to seek shelter, reports CBS News

The navy called the incident an “improper use” of the warning system.

“While preparing for an upcoming drill, the notification system inadvertently enacted without containing the words ‘exercise’ or ‘drill,’” the Navysaid in a statement Tuesday evening.

The mix-up led to a large police response, including SWAT teams who arrived on the scene at around 2 p.m.

Shortly after, the Facebook account for Naval Support Activity Bethesda read, “There is a report of an active shooter.”

At 2:30 p.m., a tweet was sent out by state Representative Dutch Ruppersberger who was at the hospital during the incident.

“We’ve been told there is an active shooter. I am currently safe in a conference room with approximately 40 others,” his tweet said.

By 3:20 p.m., the Facebook page was updated, indicating that an all-clear had been given and no active shooter was found.

According to a spokesperson from the Pentagon, the whole incident was part of the exercise.

Walter Reed is a hospital where American servicemen and woman are sent to heal from battle wounds. Patients who were forced to take shelter included an amputee and a veteran with a traumatic brain injury.

“Those who could walk were hastily pushed in wheelchairs. There was fear,” said one veteran who did not want to be named. “Some guys grabbed baseball bats or whatever there was to defend [against a potential attacker]. People were silent and sitting in the dark.”

Ruppersberger later said he remained confused about the situation.

“If today’s active shooter investigation at Walter Reed Medical Center was a drill, I clearly did not get the memo and neither did the other people who were told to shelter in place with me, nor did Montgomery County Police and other agencies,” he tweeted.

]]>https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/hospital/active-shooter-drill-gone-wrong-maryland-hospital/feed/34 Stoneman Douglas Employees Reassigned over Safety Commission Findingshttps://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/stoneman-douglas-employees-reassigned/
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/stoneman-douglas-employees-reassigned/#respondTue, 27 Nov 2018 15:12:39 +0000http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/?p=60075Earlier this year, two other Stoneman Douglas employees were reassigned and subsequently fired for their response to the February 14 school shooting.

]]>Three assistant principals and a security specialist at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be reassigned in connection with the February 14 school shooting that claimed 17 lives.

Security specialist Kelvin Greenleaf and assistant principals Jeff Morford, Winfred Porter and Denise Reed will be reassigned “to other BCPS administrative locations”, read a press release sent Monday from the desk of Superintendent Robert Runcie.

According to the release, the decision was made after investigators from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission presented their findings at a meeting two weeks ago regarding staff response to both the shooting and preceding events, reports CNN.

“It appears that he [Runcie] has at least started the process of holding people to account,” said Ryan Petty, who sits on the commission board and is also the father of student victim Alain Petty. “The failure to follow school board policy and the inaction [by staff] that day cost several lives.”

During the presentation, a second-by-second breakdown was shown of law enforcement’s response, revealing communication failures and untimely responses to the shooting by administrators.

Commission Finds Lack of Active Shooter Drills, Safety Violations

The commission claims Greenleaf and Morford entered the school’s camera room approximately seven minutes after the first shot was fired. The pair then relayed what they saw on video for the next 30 minutes and mentioned to Porter and former school resource officer Scot Peterson that the video feed was delayed, according to The Miami Herald.

However, responding officers were not informed of the estimated 26-minute delay, leading them to believe that the gunman was still on campus when he had already fled on foot.

Back in June, two security monitors were fired for their response to the shooting. One of the monitors, Andrew Medina, said he did not issue a “Code Red”, which would have signaled a threat inside the building and kept students behind locked doors, because he had been trained not to set off a law enforcement response unless he saw a gun or heard gunshots.

Experts testified to the commission that staff members were not prepared to handle an active shooter situation and that the school had not practiced a Code Red drill during the school year.

Furthermore, the commission found “safe” corners in some classrooms, where students would have been out of the gunman’s line of sight, were blocked by furniture and open campus gates were not staffed by security personnel.

]]>https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/stoneman-douglas-employees-reassigned/feed/047 Injured After Bus Carrying UW Marching Band Rolls Overhttps://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/uw-marching-band-bus-crash/
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/uw-marching-band-bus-crash/#respondMon, 26 Nov 2018 14:44:03 +0000http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/?p=60016Local residents and a rival marching band lent their support following the Thanksgiving Day crash that is being attributed to icy road conditions.

]]>Dozens of people were injured when a charter bus carrying members of the University of Washington marching band rolled over on Thanksgiving Day after hitting ice.

The bus was one of six transporting the Husky Marching Band from Seattle to Pullman, Wash., for the Apple Cup, an annual football game between the University of Washington and Washington State, reports CNN. The buses were traveling on Interstate 90 in George when the rollover happened at approximately 5:30 p.m.

A band member said the bus spun out of control before it flipped into a ditch, according to NBC News. Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney attributes the crash to “extremely icy conditions” and fog.

An estimated 47 of the 56 passengers were treated and released from local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries. As of Friday morning, only two passengers remained at local hospitals.

“The injuries reported were cuts, complaints of general pain and back pain, but the injuries are not believed to be critical,” said University of Washington spokesman Victor Balta.

The other passengers were taken to a local elementary school to be evaluated by Grant County aid workers as a precaution. Band member Patrick Stanton said in a tweet that a radio station put out a call and local community members brought Thanksgiving leftovers.

The band chose not to attend Friday’s game without all of its members.

“The Husky Marching Band is like a family, and we do everything together,” said UW Director of Athletic Bands Brad McDavid. “With that in mind, the band will not attend the 2018 Apple Cup game in respect and consideration of the recovery our students and staff need following our bus accident last night.”

While the band did not attend the game, the Washington State marching band performed the University of Washington’s fight song in their honor.

Washington State athletic band director Troy Bennefield called it a “show of sportsmanship” and said they wanted to “support what those students and staff are going through because it’s a very traumatic event.”

The section of the stadium where the band would have sat was also roped off and left empty.

“No matter what happens in the rivalry, we’re all Washingtonians, and we all care for the well-being of those kids,” added Bennefield.

]]>Medical emergencies can happen in any place at any time. It is unlikely that first responders or medical professionals will be nearby when they happen, making you the next best person to assist in a medical emergency before a professional arrives on the scene.

That’s why several security and medical professionals created the Medical Tactical Certificate Program (Med Tac for short), a global bystander care training program that began in schools and scout groups. Once its developers saw success within those organizations, they began exploring other environments where bystander care can have a significant impact.

The programs listed here are scalable and adjusted to the organization and environment. They are evidence-based and data-driven.

Lifeguard – Surf Initiative: Three of our R&D regions have extensive coastlines with millions of citizens exposed to dangers related to waterways and water sports every year. We have established R&D and training relationships with lifeguard organizations in Hawaii and California. This has led us to target injuries that occur and hazards that exist on our beaches. Lifeguards can be very effective Med Tac instructors, who welcome the opportunity to teach in their communities.

Divers Initiative: Scuba divers and dive instructors make excellent Med Tac students and teachers. Safety is the bedrock of scuba training. The principles we teach are entirely consistent with the world-class PADI core curriculum, and our online training program mirrors their learning management approach. It was natural to develop a Med Tac program specifically for divers and dive instructors that addresses the specific emergencies they will encounter. Two of our founders are PADI Certified Rescue Divers. The youngest, Charles R. Denham III, who is a Boy Scout, is one of our junior instructors and is introducing Med Tac to scout groups.

Aviation: Emergencies happen frequently during the more than 42,700 flights handled by the air traffic control system every day in the United States. Dr. Gregory Botz and colleagues at MD Anderson are pioneering a training program to address in-flight emergencies. There are at least 70 in-flight health emergencies involving a passenger or pilot every day that pose unique challenges and opportunities for bystander care that can be undertaken to support flight crews.

Law Enforcement and Security: Chief William Adcox and his team at the UT Police Department serving the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are pioneering a Med Tac program to specifically address the needs of major medical centers and healthcare institutions. It is the most robust blend of the best medical practices and tactical practices of first responders. Alumni of the program have already saved lives with skills taught in the class.

Youth Mentorship Program: Given the high health hazard target of bullying, Charlie Denham III, our youngest team member, is working with instructor David Beshk to create a curriculum developed for kids by kids called the KidLeaders program and a leadership program called LEAD to Serve. The core content will help build a mentorship network to combat the precursors to bullying and suicide. It will be taught with age-appropriate bystander care.

Healthcare Security Ministries: The team members are helping train security staff and healthcare volunteers at houses of worship. Although infrequent, active shooter and opioid overdose events have occurred enough to expose significate vulnerabilities. The Med Tac team is undertaking a Boy Scout project to identify what religious institutions need to do to be prepared and equip bystanders with the training and supplies needed to administer care within 3 minutes of victim discovery. The concept of a Rapid Response Team used by hospitals to rescue patients in distress is being explored for faith-based organizations that combines medical and security personnel who can respond together for certain emergencies.

Corporate Programs: The Med Tac Team is exploring the opportunities to help enterprises serving the public, such as hospitality and restaurant businesses with what they need to care for their staff and patrons before professional first responders arrive. Some sectors are more common sites for mass casualty and active shooter events.

]]>https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/med-tac-specialty-programs/feed/08 Most Common Preventable Health Hazardshttps://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/preventable-health-hazards/
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/public/preventable-health-hazards/#respondMon, 26 Nov 2018 09:00:30 +0000http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/?p=59962Here are the top eight health hazards that non-medical bystanders can help mitigate until first responders arrive on scene of a medical emergency.

]]>The “bystander effect”. It’s a term many are familiar with, especially those who work in the medical field. According to Psychology Today, the bystander effect can be described as the presence of others discouraging individuals from helping in an emergency situation. Many either freeze in fear or assume the person standing next to them will intervene instead.

If nothing is done to help someone in a medical emergency and there are multiple people around to witness it, blame can’t be placed on a single individual. This is referred to as “diffusion of responsibility” by social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley who mainstreamed the bystander effect concept in the ’60s.

Several security and medical professionals developed a global bystander training program after learning that a shocking number of deaths and harm can be prevented or mitigated by non-medical bystanders in the 8-10 minutes it takes, on average, for first responders to arrive on scene at a medical emergency.

The training program, called the Medical Tactical Certificate Program, or Med Tac for short, teaches individuals how to recognize and reduce harm from the most common preventable health hazards to children and adults. Here are the top eight preventable health hazards and how the training program addresses them.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA): In the United States, more than two lives can be saved every hour with bystander care, and one-quarter of the children who experience an SCA do so on the playing field. The survival rate without bystander care falls rapidly to less than 10 percent. So, for SCA, students learn “hands only” CPR, how to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and how to make an effective 911 call. To fulfill the requirements to receive our certificate of completion, the participants must earn or provide documentation of successful completion of CPR/AED training such as the Heartsaver AED/CPR certificate offered by the American Heart Association or the equivalent from the American Red Cross. Med Tac trainers must maintain instructor status with these organizations. They can either provide the CPR/AED training themselves or enlist a local qualified instructor to deliver the course curriculum. For certain classes, with students “hands only” CPR training is offered. For our more comprehensive courses, such as the Heartsaver, CPR/AED courses are implemented.

Choking and Drowning: For choking, Med Tac students practice the lifesaving Heimlich Maneuver, which saves on average 13 lives per day in the United States. For drowning victims, they learn how to integrate water-related rescue practices, how to perform CPR, and how to work with lifeguards and first responders by providing supportive bystander care. These skills, on average, save more than eight lives every day in our country.

Opioid Overdose: When the CDC announced the explosive growth of opioid-related deaths in 2017 to almost 200 a day, it reinforced our priority of this hazard. For opioids and poisons, students learn about prevention approaches and opioid-reversal agents. We deliver age-appropriate content. For young students, we cover opioids at a high level. For older youth and college students, we provide much more detailed content including the recent threats of fentanyl and carfentanil, and we describe the potency of these compounds as well as the risk of inhalation and dermal absorption. We also cover the use and mechanism of action of naloxone, the opioid-reversal agent, in detail. Armed with this knowledge and these skills, more than five Americans can be saved every single hour.

Anaphylaxis: For life-threatening allergies and anaphylaxis, students learn about using epinephrine auto-injectors such as EPI Pens. We address the issues regarding the need for more than one dose and why students need to keep epinephrine auto-injectors with them during drills, sports and offsite field trips. A surprising number of students at risk are very cavalier about letting others know of their risk and frequently forget to keep their epinephrine auto-injectors with them.

Major Trauma and Bleeding: Every hour in the United States a life can be saved by properly treating severe bleeding. For major trauma, as with all the high impact health hazards, students learn scene safety, especially in light of more frequent active shooter events. We teach the entire Stop-the-Bleed curriculum sponsored by the American College of Surgeons. Students learn how to use pressure, pressure bandages, wound packing and tourniquets to address severe bleeding. Immersive simulation exercises are undertaken throughout the course to simulate time-critical, stressful and challenging situations in order to build “mental muscle memory” that students can fall back on during real events.

Common Accidents: For certain common home and campus accidents, they learn scene safety and how to prevent injuries and infections.

Non-traffic Related Vehicular Accidents: The frequency of drive-over accidents on U.S. school campuses prompted us to learn about how to prevent non-traffic drive-over accidents and teach bystander care at the scene. There are more than 100 non-traffic related drive-over accidents every week in our country. Almost all of them can be prevented.

Bullying and Workplace Violence: Students will learn the importance of preventing and mitigating bullying and how it can lead to harm and even death. We take an age-appropriate and audience-appropriate approach to addressing “Bullycide,” cyberbullying, and abuse of power by peers and staff. For every suicide, there are 25 attempts. All incidents can benefit from bystander care.

]]>It is only a matter of time before you encounter a medical emergency, either on campus or in your private life. When a health crisis happens — whether you are a teacher or faculty member, staff member, student, law enforcement officer, medical professional, administrator or just a concerned citizen — you are the first responder. On average, it will take ten minutes for professional first responders to arrive.

The most common types of emergencies you or someone you know or love will face are sudden cardiac arrest, choking and drowning, opioid overdose, anaphylaxis and allergic reactions, major trauma and bleeding, common accidents, non-traffic related vehicular accidents, and bullying and workplace violence.

What would you do if you encountered one of these emergencies? Are you ready to respond appropriately? Are others in your organization prepared? Major disaster and accident studies reveal that, when situations like these happen, we behave better — and worse — than we hope. In an emergency, humans sometimes fight, some take flight, but most often … we freeze.

The purpose of this article is to introduce a global bystander care training program that focuses on responding to medical emergencies in the vital first few minutes before professional first responders arrive on scene. The training initiative is the Medical Tactical Certificate Program, called Med Tac for short. Many elements of the program may be found in other standalone individual initiatives. However, as a fully integrated program tackling the most common causes of preventable death together, it may be the first its kind.

While we were developing an active shooter program in the Texas Medical Center, we consulted Michael Dorn, an internationally recognized authority on campus safety. He expressed his frustration with the focus on active shooter attacks and the lack of awareness of the many more deaths at schools and campuses from other causes, such as cardiac arrest, fatal allergic reactions, overdoses, choking and more.

Our research of the literature and consultation of leading experts confirmed the staggering number of deaths and harm that can be prevented or mitigated by non-medical bystanders in the precious minutes before professional first responders arrive. Our integrated founding programs tackling these causes together began in schools, scout groups and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The work has expanded to four states. We have an active R&D program, are producing a documentary and developing specialty programs for lifeguards, divers, aviation and corporations. We are looking for great partners and invite school district, university and healthcare leaders to join us.

How Med Tac Began

It all started with Cub Scouts and elementary and middle school students when we tested whether children could learn CPR/AED and Stop-the-Bleed techniques. Then when David Beshk — an award-winning teacher and one of our instructors — saved a life during an emergency using a skill he learned and taught just three days earlier, we knew we had something.

In Beshk’s case, an unconscious victim was found lying on his back while vomiting, which significantly increased the risk for choking and aspiration. A crowd of bystanders, including several medical professionals, stood by, not knowing what to do. Relying on his training, Beshk used an intervention that reduces the risk for choking and aspiration called the “recovery position” — a method of saving an unconscious victim who is vomiting by keeping their airway clear.

As our momentum grew, we learned more about the first few minutes of emergencies and how solidly recent medical evidence supports, in fact, calls for, bystander care.

We expanded the program to older students, Boy Scouts and families wanting to improve their disaster preparedness skills. We were surprised by how fast they learned and became competent with such skills. We now deliver training to college students at some of our leading universities and faith-based organizations. We have developed a comprehensive program for law enforcement and security professionals at one of our global medical centers.

Our leadership team includes national medical leaders and educators, simulation experts and law enforcement threat experts who have tackled the most frequent, severe and preventable causes of harm to children and adults with one integrated approach.

Various Organizations Piloted the Med Tac Approach

The initiative for children and youth is starting its second year with after-school and summer-school programs. Our Boy Scout program enables scouts to fulfill the requirements for important merit badges such as the First Aid, emergency preparedness and lifesaving badges.

We launched our program for young adults at Stanford University with students from medical schools and undergraduate programs, including student-athletes from multiple sports. The program delivers content uniquely suited to college students with emphasis on the most common accidents occurring in their age group in campus communities and in membership organizations such as sororities and fraternities. Specific content areas include alcohol and substance abuse issues, as well as the most common causes of severe trauma in their age group. A recurring student-led program has been launched at the University of Florida.

The weekend family program trains families in disaster preparedness as well as Med Tac Lifeline Behaviors where they earn CPR/AED and Stop-the-Bleed certificates for successfully completing the curricula in these lifeline behaviors. This program allows Boy Scouts to fulfill all their requirements for their emergency preparedness merit badge, which includes a family emergency preparedness plan and gear pack.

A program for law enforcement officers and first responders was launched with the University of Texas Police Department at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. It is the most tactical of our programs with comprehensive attention to active shooter events.

KidLeaders is a mentorship program including but not limited to scouts will help grade school students understand the core values and behaviors of great leaders.

4 Elements of the Program

There are four major elements to our enterprise model that allow us to take Med Tac to a global scale. We leverage technology and leaders in communities to provide the program to grade schools, scouting groups and faith-based organizations at zero cost to them.

Bystander Care: Our global bystander care training program development focuses on the vital first few lifesaving minutes before professional first responders arrive. The curriculum is continually updated to mirror the latest evidence-based medicine guidelines and developments accepted by national emergency medicine and critical care organizations.

Blended Learning: We use a blended learning approach of online knowledge transfer, complemented by onsite skill training and deliberative practice led by local trainers. The program is designed to be free to grade schools, scouting organizations and faith-based institutions for the online component. The only costs to them are for local, qualified instructors who are engaged and paid directly by them. The online content can be taken anywhere and at any time through mobile technologies.

Team of Teams and Network of Networks: Our model enables us to tap existing training networks of educators and membership organizations such as schools, scouts, clubs and faith-based platforms. We leverage a multigenerational team from local networks to meet the needs of the broad age range of our students.

Our funding support to date has been solely by founder philanthropy with no direct or indirect financial support from healthcare device or pharmaceutical companies. We will be seeking funding from sources with a zero conflict of interest profile to allow us to scale globally without real or perceived conflict of interest.

3 Minutes and Counting Documentary: This film uses real-life stories to motivate the public and leaders of institutions to start and support programs in their own communities. We are taking real facilities and creating simulation models to identify the best combination of trained bystanders and properly positioned supplies to enable delivery of lifesaving bystander care within three minutes of an event and until professional first responders arrive in 8-10 minutes.

Video Stories: Our learning management approach uses the power of stories to communicate concepts, illustrate tools and describe resources. We are continuously capturing stories and adding them to our multimedia curriculum.

Immersive Simulation Scenarios: The many stories used in our online training allow us to develop simulation scenarios, putting students in real-life situations that apply and reinforce key concepts. We use techniques pioneered in aviation and other industries to drive retention and competency impact.

Start a Med Tac Program of Your Own

Although the Med Tac Team won the 2018 Pete Conrad Global Patient Safety Award for its work, we believe any community, inspired by the “all teach — all learn” mantra, can easily start a program like ours. We challenge others to start similar initiatives or join us in this cause.

We believe the CPR/AED/First Aid programs of the American Heart Association are excellent. Instructors of those programs are ideally suited to engage with campus programs. Further, the Stop-the-Bleed program sponsored by the American College of Surgeons is also excellent when it is taught as designed. The combination of these two programs can dramatically improve the frequency and effectiveness of bystander responses to emergencies.

Recent studies have shown that bystander skills degrade over time, so try to assure “competency-currency.” Regular, repeated training, with deliberate practice of bystander care skills, complemented by readily accessible emergency care supplies, is the winning combination for a campus team to help serve those entrusted in their care.

Remember, odds are that a medical emergency will happen on your campus and your students, clinicians, public safety officers, teachers, staff members and administrators will be the immediate responders until professional help can arrive. Med Tac can provide them with the skills they need to respond appropriately and save lives.

William Adcox is the chief security officer for the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT-Health Chief of Police; Dr. Gregory Botz is a professor of anesthesiology and critical care and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center; Charles Denham III is a Junior Med Tac instructor; Dr. Charles Denham II is the chairman of the Texas Medical Institute of Technology.